With the Phoenix Coyotes out of the playoffs and their future as to where they’ll play in the future up in the air, there is one thing they can count on. If the team moves to Winnipeg they can count on impending unrestricted free agent goalie Ilya Bryzgalov playing for another team or league next season.

After last night’s 6-3 loss in Game 4 to Detroit, Bryzgalov was asked about his future as a free agent and the prospects of re-signing with the organization. To say he’s not a big fan of Winnipeg would be a wild and hysterical understatement.

“You don’t want to go to Winnipeg, right?” Bryzgalov said after the Coyotes lost to Detroit, Wednesday night. “Not many people live there, not many Russian people there. Plus it’s cold. There’s no excitement except the hockey. No park, no entertaining for the families, for the kids. It’s going to be tough life for your family.”

The 30-year-old Russian’s knowledge of Winnipeg comes from a visit or two when he was with Cincinnati in the AHL.

“I’ve been there for just once, maybe twice, when I play in minors. It was really cold,” Bryzgalov said. “I used the tunnels between the buildings to get to the arena. Because it was minus 40-something. Real cold.”

I know things are a bit different in Canada, but I didn’t realize it was a country without parks or entertainment. It’s either that or Winnipeg really is a frontier outpost in the middle of nowhere. I should really shut up when talking about places I’ve never been before.

It’s not the first time Bryzgalov has bagged on the bad weather in a central Canadian city, he sounded off similarly about Edmonton years ago while a member of the Ducks. Bryzgalov has been a bit spoiled in his NHL career having played in Anaheim and Phoenix, that’s some really good weather during the winter to have to call home.

Of course, with free agency coming up for him and a potentially very wealthy owner to sign his paychecks in Winnipeg (should he be open to going there) we’d like to think that David Thomson would build Bryzgalov his own climate controlled biodome should that be what it takes to lure him north of the border.

Would he even listen to an offer from the new owners? It doesn’t sound too likely.

“Probably not. I better go to somewhere in Russia, KHL, to be honest. Because KHL is Russian people, it’s family, friends. Even as a cold place, I can speak to people in Russian language.”

Ah yes, the KHL option. Bryzgalov is an interesting enough character to take seriously on such a threat to go back to Russia but it’s one that didn’t work out too well for guys like Ray Emery and Evgeni Nabokov the last couple years. The comparison to Nabokov is appropriate because he too is Russian and thought he could get paid well and be at home. That didn’t work out too well as he was allowed to leave SKA St. Petersburg to come back to North America and ultimately end up in limbo after being claimed on waivers by the Islanders.

If he wants to go back to Russia that’s more than fine and that’s his decision. Of course, there may be a warm weather team with an opening at goalie next season if things don’t work out with Phoenix. Tampa Bay has Dwayne Roloson and Mike Smith both becoming unrestricted free agents next year. Perhaps Bryzgalov would be interested in some beach front property in Florida instead of a home on the prairie in Winnipeg.

New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang provided an interesting take to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, and also reminded observes that, as an international sport, the NHL features some players who might not feel as invested in (or at least as informed about) these debates.

“I think what the NFL players are doing is amazing. It’s good that they’re all sticking together,” Ho-Sang said on Monday. “I mean, I’m Canadian, so I don’t have too much input on the matter itself. It will affect me living in the States, but the biggest thing is it’s unfortunate that the message may have gotten lost a little. Now it’s becoming a battle between the NFL and the president and originally [the protests] started because of police brutality and the mistreatment of different races.”

“Protecting the First Amendment is a huge thing,” Okposo said. “I’m a proud American, and I’m proud to be from the United States. Myself personally, I wouldn’t kneel for an anthem, but I respect those that do.”

***

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the current political climate affect NHL players or people they know.

Players in plenty of sports are navigating tough questions this week. It’s important to remember that athletes can find themselves in tough spots when addressing topics that can be polarizing and/or complex.

Can't imagine being 20 years old, talking to a pack of reporters about controversial protests, knowing that any misstep releases the hounds.

With the regular season about to kick into gear on Oct. 4, it’s certain that there will be more eyes on anthems than ever before. The insights in this post should be useful, whether NHL players kneel, sit, speak, or decide to stick to hockey.

The key: after only being able to study brains of deceased athletes, there’s a chance that living athletes with CTE might eventually be identified.

On face value, that’s great news for player health. Hockey, like other contact sports such as football, is no stranger to careers and lives being derailed by brain injuries.

Of course, the NHL and NHLPA would need to cooperate to make the most of potential progress. If you’ve watched hockey long enough, particularly postseason hockey, you know that certain protocols can stand as great concepts met with hesitant execution.

Westhead expounds on such thoughts, and some of his findings aren’t very pretty.

Players might be hesitant to take such tests if it means that they’ll miss playing time (or even see their careers end). It brings back memories of Peyton Manning willfully sandbagging his baseline concussion test. For better or worse, these guys want to play.

NHL player agent: “If I asked 30 of my players if they would take a test to tell them if they have CTE, I think zero would be interested."

Of course, it’s crucial to realize that potential breakthroughs from this study could take quite some time to trickle into functional practices, even if leagues and players end up being more willing to comply than expected.

Overall, this is promising news. Hopefully such changes could help athletes during their careers and into retirement.

Sprong, 20, was the 46th pick of the 2015 NHL Draft. He’s been generating solid numbers at the OHL, so it will be interesting to see how he converts that to AHL work. Sprong played 18 regular-season games for the Penguins back in 2015-16, notching two goals.

There are some bullet points that can sell Nolan, but the 28-year-old’s production was quite limited at the NHL level. Nolan’s never scored 10 goals in a single season; in fact, he’s only reached 10 points once in his career (six goals and four assists in 64 regular-season contests back in 2013-14).

Overall, it wouldn’t be surprising if a team targeted Nolan as a depth guy, even if his ceiling is limited.

While the Penguins’ entries seem notable for sheer volume as much as anything else, Frank Corrado is another name that stands out.

Corrado was often the catalyst for debates about his playing time (or lack thereof) with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it doesn’t seem like the defenseman is having much success catching on with the Penguins, either.

Zatkoff, meanwhile, fits in with quite a few other names on this list: possibly prominent in the AHL, only likely to get the occasional cup of coffee in the NHL, at this point.